Updated 2:16 pm, Friday, March 15, 2013

A man accused of repeatedly raping a missing teenage girl has been arrested following an undercover police operation targeting the prostitution of juveniles.

The alleged victim, then 16, was found by police inside a Northwest Side motel room along with a 13-year-old girl during a prostitution sting carried out on Oct. 26 at a Northwest Side motel, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

When she was interviewed, the older teen told officers that she had been sexually assaulted by several people during the time that she had been reported as a missing person. During that time, she said she met and became friends with a man nicknamed “Cali” who eventually began to rape her.

She later identified the alleged rapist as California native Manuel Ramirez, 25, and picked him out of a photo lineup.

Ramirez was arrested on Thursday and charged with sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony. Bail was set at $100,000.